We shot another cookbook with Deb Samuels recently. Catrine styled and propped it and Deb had a crew of assistants helping her out in the kitchen. It was a very aggressive shooting schedule with 7 days of shooting and multiple set ups each day. Given the number of shots needed we used available light as often as possible and we moved around a lot depending on the dish and the props needed. Inside, outside , front porch, back porch and rotating surfaces and props with every shot. It was fascinating to me to see how particular the Japanese are about certain things, like where the chopsticks must be placed and which direction they point in relative to the dish. Here are some of the production stills shot by our intern Whit Haynes.

This was a "sushi party" scene

For this "how to" shot we had lights outside blasting into the kitchen.

Cutting some ingredients from Deb's garden for one of the dishes

Another "how to" process shot

Deb needed a little realignment of the knife relative to the camera...

There's Elsa- she was always shadowing me with that camera of hers.

One of the best parts of this shoot was that we got to eat everything for lunch...sooo good!

They brought out a cake for my birthday!

I know what Deb was thinking. My question is what was Mike thinking in this picture?

Another book finished...